For disjoint graphs $G$ and $H$, with fixed
vertex covers
$C(G)$ and $C(H)$, their cover product is the graph $G
\circledast
H$ with vertex set
$V(G)\cup V(H)$ and edge set $E(G)\cup E(H)\cup\{\{i,j\}:i\in
C(G), j\in
C(H)\}$. We describe the graded Betti numbers of $G\circledast
H$ in terms of those of
$G$ and $H$. As applications we obtain: (i) For any positive
integer $k$ there
exists a connected bipartite graph $G$ such that $\operatorname{reg}
R/I(G)=\mu_S(G)+k$, where,
$I(G)$ denotes the edge ideal of $G$, $\operatorname{reg} R/I(G)$
is the Castelnuovo--Mumford
regularity of $R/I(G)$ and $\mu_S(G)$ is the induced or strong
matching number of
$G$; (ii) The graded Betti numbers of the complement of a tree
only depends upon
its number of vertices; (iii) The $h$-vector of $R/I(G\circledast
H)$ is described in
terms of the $h$-vectors of $R/I(G)$ and $R/I(H)$. Furthermore,
in a different
direction, we give a recursive formula for the graded Betti numbers
of chordal
bipartite graphs.